Bright Faces : Fernando Camarena sells the huge blooms as cut flowers at his roadside stand.

For some Ventura County residents, sunshine has been a luxury this year. Seasonally bright skies have been shrouded by relentless gray, overcast gloom.

Longing for a bit of brightness? We have an idea to put some sunny cheer back in your life.

It comes in the form of a towering plant--the sunflower.

Sitting atop its fibrous, stick-straight stalk and reaching the height of a small tree, the bright yellow bloom of the sunflower shines like a beacon.

And while its presence in Ventura County’s overall agriculture picture is minuscule, the large, round blooms are now available to anyone needing to illuminate a kitchen counter, a mantle or a dinner table.

Fernando Camarena grows half an acre of sunflowers in Ventura, where he offers these and other seasonal fresh-cut flowers at his roadside stand.

Camarena’s sunflowers are not to be confused with the commercial sunflower-seed-producing variety. But the colorful blooms have a similar appearance.

Magnificent yellow petals encircle a large dark brown center--the area where the commercial variety would cluster its seeds.

“This is my first attempt at growing sunflowers,” Camarena said recently. “This variety is called the ‘Sunbright.’ I was told by other growers that this plant would not do well here, but so far I’ve had good luck.”

Indeed. During a recent visit to his smallish plot, the flourishing sunflowers easily dominated the outlying landscape. Numerous beaming suns reigned over their supporting stalks.

The plants average about eight feet tall, but some will reach 10 feet or more, Camarena said.

“The flower has been around a long time. It’s grown on a pretty wide basis down by San Diego, but around here, you don’t see it much.”

Camarena said customers visiting Fernando’s Flowers have greeted the sunflower with plenty of interest.

“Since it’s not a flower you see a lot around here, I wasn’t sure how people would react to it. But when they come across it here, they are excited to see it and really like it. So far, we’re happy with it,” he said.

The sunflower--including those grown by Camarena--has also struck the interest of agricultural artist Barbara Dougherty. Her recently published book, “Harvest California,” features a number of photos of her paintings inspired by farmland settings. One is of a field of sunflowers.

“I draw a lot of inspiration from sunflowers,” she said. “They’re by far my favorite crop. While other plants are kind of lost in a large field as a whole, a sunflower remains an individual.”

Besides Camarena’s impressive sunflowers, others, Dougherty said, can be seen on Santa Rosa Road in Camarillo.

“There aren’t many around, so I will soon be traveling in Northern California, where they are being grown more widely,” she said.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Sunflowers are available at Fernando’s Flowers for $1.50 each. One large bloom adorns a long, leaf-laden stalk, which they will cut to suggested size. The stand, open daily, is at Olivas Park Drive at Telephone Road. Call 650-3421.